Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan
Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan is the second season finale of Monk. Plot After receiving a tip from Dale "The Whale", Adrian Monk flies to New York City, accompanied by Sharona Fleming, Captain Stottlemeyer, and Lieutenant Disher, all with the same mission – to find Warrick Tennyson, who Dale said was “involved” in the murder of Monk’s wife, Trudy. But while they are checking in at their hotel, the new Latvian ambassador and his two bodyguards are shot to death in one of the elevators. The shooter runs out of the hotel covering his face, and Monk says he can identify the man – but only by the shape of his left ear. Although Stottlemeyer says they are there to find Tennyson, NYPD Detective Walter asks for their help in solving the ambassador’s murder, which could have dire political implications. Stottlemeyer encourages Monk, reminding him that it’s important to make a good impression on the local authorities. Monk notices some clues: the ambassador’s coat is damp, but his bodyguards’ are dry. When the Ambassador brushed past Monk a few minutes before the murder, Monk remembers his coat was dry. Monk also heard the ambassador say something that sounded like, “she’s now gone meatless.” Monk and Sharona question some Latvian exiles who might have had a motive. None of them know anything about the murder, but one of them recognizes the ambassador’s words as "Šis nav mans mētelis," which means “this is not my coat,” in an obscure Latvian dialect. Meanwhile, Stottlemeyer is suspicious of Walter’s continued dancing around the subject of Tennyson. He breaks into Walter’s office and examines his records, finding that Tennyson is dying in hospital and has only a few days left to live. Because he’s being questioned in connection with a Federal racketeering case, the District Attorney is not letting anyone else see him. Stottlemeyer confronts Walter, who admits the truth, but says the fact remains, the only way to get access to Tennyson is to solve the ambassador’s murder. While Monk and Sharona are making their way back to the station, Monk reluctantly rides on the subway, despite his terror of crowds, germs, and closed spaces. Sharona says she is proud of him, but when they stop at the next station to change lines, Monk reels at the sight of a man casually urinating in a corner. He is so horror-stricken that he stumbles back onto another departing subway, leaving Sharona behind. Lost in New York, Monk gradually goes to pieces. When Sharona, Stottlemeyer, and Disher finally track him down in Times Square, he has been “converted” by one of the street preachers and is yelling loudly about the impending Apocalypse. Sharona comes up to take hold of him, and is severely embarrassed when Monk calls her a “fornicator” in a loud voice. However, as Monk regains control of himself, he looks up at one of the big TV screens and sees a man, Steven Leight, being interviewed on the news about the recent murder of his wife in an apparent mugging. Monk insists that Leight is “the guy,” whom he recognizes by his ear. No one can guess why Leight would kill the Latvian ambassador, but Monk cracks the case when they trace a mint found in the ambassador’s coat pocket to a bar near Central Park. Here’s What Happened Leight is brought to the bar by Walter, both of them wanting to know what’s going on. Monk explains that Leight killed his wife in Central Park, then took her jewelry to make it look like a routine robbery. Afterwards, he had a drink to steady his nerves before calling the police. The ambassador happened to be in the same bar, and received Leight’s overcoat by mistake from the bar’s cloakroom. When Leight got his coat to leave, he realized what had happened. His wife’s jewelry was still in the pocket of his coat, and he had to get it back. So he ran to the hotel just as it was starting to rain, followed the ambassador into the elevator, and killed all three men, switching the ambassador’s (now wet) coat with his own. Midway through the summation, Monk becomes distracted when he recognizes one of the bar’s busboys as “The Urinator” from the subway. Monk forgets all about Leight, but a ballistics report arrives, confirming that Mrs. Leight and the ambassador were killed with the same gun. Leight is arrested. Having cracked the case, Monk and Co. are allowed to visit Tennyson on his deathbed. Tennyson remembers being hired by a man to build and plant the bomb that killed Trudy. When asked who the man was, Tennyson says he never knew the man's name, or what he looked like. It looks like Tennyson is a dead end, until he remembers one vital clue: the man had six fingers on his right hand. Monk asks for a few moments alone with Tennyson. When the others are gone, Tennyson asks for forgiveness, but Monk cannot bring himself to give it. Instead, he says, "This is me, turning off your morphine," and does, ensuring that Tennyson will spend his last few days in agonizing pain. But a few tense moments later, he says, "...and this is Trudy, the woman you killed, turning it back on," and does. The gang prepare to leave New York, having gotten at least one step further in solving Monk’s most important case. Continuity *Three seasons later, in "Mr. Monk Is On The Run," Monk comes face to face with the six-fingered man, who admits that Tennyson built the bomb, but he detonated it. Dale "The Whale"'s reasons for sharing part of the truth with Monk also become clear. Trivia *Adrian Monk's age is said to be 45. *Both Monk and Stottlemeyer are visibly sickened to hear that Tennyson was only paid a paltry $2,000 to end Trudy's life. 3.01